Cycloartane-Type Triterpenes and Botanical Origin of Propolis of Stingless Indonesian Bee Tetragonula sapiens.

Niken Pujirahayu,Takeshi Katayama,Toshisada Suzuki

doi:10.3390/plants8030057

Niken Pujirahayu, Takeshi Katayama + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/plants8030057

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Abstract

This study clarifies the chemical constituents and botanical origin of Tetragonula sapiens Cockerell bee propolis collected from Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. Propolis samples and resin of Mangifera indica were extracted with 99% ethanol to obtain an ethanol extract of propolis (EEP) and an ethanol extract of M. indica resin (EEM). Column chromatography, thin-layer chromatography (TLC), and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were developed and used for the separation and isolation of compounds from the ether-soluble fraction. The structure of the compounds was determined by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic analysis, and their molecular weight analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The HPLC chromatogram of the EEP was then compared with the HPLC chromatogram of EEM to investigate the botanical origin of propolis. Five compounds were isolated from the EEP, and their structures were determined as mangiferolic acid, cycloartenol, ambonic acid, mangiferonic acid, and ambolic acid, which are cycloartane-type triterpenes. The characteristic peak of the HPLC chromatograms of EEP and EEM showed a similar pattern, which is that the main components of propolis were also found in M. indica resin. These results suggested that the propolis from Southeast Sulawesi was rich in cycloartane-type triterpenes, and the plant source of the propolis could be Mangifera indica (mango).

Highlights

Propolis is one of the natural ingredients produced by honeybees, and it has been widely used as traditional medicine for a long period of time. It is a mixture of beeswax, resin, and other materials that are collected by honeybees like Tetragonula sapiens Cockerell, a kind of stingless bee, from plant buds, leaves, and exudates
The ether-soluble fraction of the T. sapiens bee propolis sample was subjected to a series of chromatographic-separation experiments giving two isolated compounds from P1 and three isolated compounds from P2
The former were mangiferolic acid (1) [22,23] and cycloartenol (2) [23]. The latter were ambonic acid (3) [23,24], mangiferonic acid (4), and ambolic acid (5) [23,25] (Figure 1a,b). These compounds were identified by comparing their nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)

Summary

Introduction

Propolis is one of the natural ingredients produced by honeybees, and it has been widely used as traditional medicine for a long period of time. It is a mixture of beeswax, resin, and other materials that are collected by honeybees like Tetragonula sapiens Cockerell, a kind of stingless bee, from plant buds, leaves, and exudates. Bees utilize propolis as building material for their nests as well as tools to prevent the growth of bacteria and fungi in the nest [1,2]. For stingless bees, propolis is used to construct storage pots for pollen and honey [3]. A recent study proved that propolis has antitoxic and antimutagenic activities [9]

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